The invention concerns a device to dispense active substances into rinse water, especially in a toilet bowl, according to the preamble of patent claim 1.
EP 0 53 89 57 B1 describes a device of the kind cited above and refers to a container with its opening facing downward that holds a liquid-permeable seal in the container opening to control the release of the active substance to a porous body below. Such a device allows the release or dosing of the active substance through the liquid-permeable seal in the container opening. The porous body absorbs the released active substance and retains it after a flush, and the active substance is released to the surrounding air. With this device, the active substance is dosed only through the liquid-permeable seal in the container opening. The comparatively expensive porous body is disadvantageous along with the fact that the porous body itself cannot be used to control or distribute the active substance into the toilet bowl. The liquid-permeable seal must therefore be provided as an additional element.
DE 197 20 393 A1 describes a device to release active substances in which the active ingredient container with its opening facing downward releases the active ingredient by dripping. Somewhat undesirable traces are left in the toilet bowl where the active substance contacts it. To counteract this disadvantage, an intermediate support is provided for the prior-art device that extends into the downward path of the active ingredient and releases the active ingredient together with the rinse water into the toilet bowl and thus avoids the cited traces of active ingredient.
The invention is therefore based on the problem of improving a device of the initially-cited kind so that the release of the active substance is controlled exclusively by the distributor, and the device has a simple and economical design.
This problem is solved according to the invention by the features of patent claim 1.
Other embodiments of the device according to the invention are found in the subclaims.
The invention provides a device to dispense an active substance into the rinse water of a toilet bowl, and especially a dispenser where a liquid active ingredient in a container is released during the flush to the rinse water and also remains on a provided distributor surface after the flush to freshen the air in the area of the toilet bowl.
The distributor provided in the invention is essentially defined by intersecting grooves. A first group of grooves releases the preferably liquid active substance outward from the distributor toward the toilet bowl, and a second group of grooves distributes the liquid active substance within the distributor. The second group of grooves preferably has a larger open cross-section and appropriately distributes the active substance within the distributor to the grooves that lead outward.
These grooves or channels are preferably parallel in each group. The grooves of the two groups intersect in the distributor to specifically and satisfactorily distribute the active ingredient outward.
The two groups of grooves act like capillary tubes, i.e., the liquid active ingredient is drawn from the outside via the first groove group either by the rinse water running inside the toilet bowl over the distributor, or by the independent evaporation of the liquid active substance between the individual flushes. A corresponding design of the cross-section of the individual grooves allows the liquid active substance to be correspondingly specifically dosed or dispensed into the toilet bowl both during and between the flushes.